Exotic Malapascua

We had a great journey yesterday from Cebu City to Malapascua Island. It looks like we are changing our travel style these days, or maybe we're just getting smarter. We could have braved the non-aircon long distance bus which would have taken 5 hours to travel to the village of Maya, and then organized a boat to the island and a trudge on the sandy path to our next destination. Instead we contacted them and for a goodly fee they sent a driver to our hotel in Cebu who did the trip to Maya in 2.5 hours! And then we were met at the dock by a lovely boat owned by the resort - a 50 foot boat with wonderful large outriggers that whisked us across directly to the resort where we had a nice dry landing. Which was a moot point since even though it was a nice big boat it was open to the sea and we got our share of spray from the outriggers and the prow as it dipped into the briny sea.

We are staying at the Exotic Malaspascua Dive Center and Resort on the little island of Malapascua which apparently one can walk around in 3 hours. The fact that it's hot and humid as it is everywhere we have been precludes that idea for me although Geordie left about 20 minutes ago, and if I don't see him for 3 hours I'm guessing he set off alone.

Our place is very nice - I'm sure it's the top resort on the island. Our room is a tad expensive although cheaper than the fancy resort on Boracay and they have a real expresso machine. Our room is a Super Deluxe Air Con - sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it. There's no sea view unfortunately but there is a very nice restaurant in front of the beach so we can enjoy sitting there in the shade. We can also paddle in the sea although it's a little shallow and soon changes to seaweed.

We are very relaxed though and will enjoy our four nights here, even if the other guests are a little aloof - that may be because they all seem to be from Europe and are not comfortable with English. There is a large group from Poland who have a banquet table set up in the middle of the restaurant. We've also heard French, German and Dutch and there is a woman wearing a t-shirt emblazoned Norway Team! Good thing we have each other to talk to.

I may well report a little more later with photos. In the meantime I thought I'd update a little information about Santo Nino. I had a question from one of my readers who asked about him so I thought maybe others would be interested. Click on this link Santo Nino to take you to the Wikipedia article and some photos - oh and I was mistaken, the image of the Santo Nino was a statue not a painting.

Iloilo City to Cebu City

This morning we got up bright and early to head for Cebu and our continuing adventure with a trip to another island planned for tomorrow. This is the second time we've flown Cebu Pacific and the second time we've both left and arrived early. The plane this morning left 15 minutes ahead of schedule and I think it arrived a half hour ahead of schedule. I also think they check the passenger manifest and if everyone has arrived they use the philosophy "Hey, we're ready, let's go!" Sometimes it would be nice if other airlines did that but I have a feeling we aren't about to convince Air Canada or Delta to change the flight plan for us.

Here's one of the last photos I took in Boracay.

Iloilo was not our favourite city, although I did take some photos . Our hotel was on the Iloilo River and the view in the evening was quite lovely - the cloud masses looked great.

The jeepneys in Iloilo are fancier than those in Manila too, although it's kind of hard to get good photos on the fly, as you see here.

And here's a view directly across from our hotel from the window. It looks lovely and there are some old colonial houses there. Even though we walked through the area in the heat, we didn't get to see any close up though.

We explored the Museo Iloilo which was on one floor of a very large building.

Where we saw ancient coffins.

And religious statuary.

As well as a diorama of an ancient culture that still exists in the highlands of the island (and on the streets of the city where the ones we saw were begging - families living in the crosswalks that allow one to cross the street safely above the traffic.

Then on to Cebu and the few sights there. Here's the Sancutary of the Santo Nino - I think he is the patron saint of th Philippines. The image of the holy Nino is a Flemish painting that came to the Philippines in the 1500's when this building was first completed. There have been two damaging fires but the image survived and is now a place of pilgrimage. We didn't get to see the painting because the service was on and the cathedral was packed.

Candles outside the Sanctuary.

Here's an interior view of the dome covering Magellan's cross. The view shows Magellan at the time of the planting of the cross. Bits of the original are incorporated into the wooden cross which you see a side view of here. Magellan died shortly after on the island of Mactan where our plane landed today. He was killed by a spear when he attempted to overcome the native population there headed by the chief, Lapu-lapu.

This is the front of the Main Cathedral which is just a couple of blocks from Santo Nino.

And flower sellers between the cathedral and Santo Nino.